The Christmas File
by OurHouse
Summary: Follows Traveling Light, about 4 months later. AU. Should read Traveling Light before reading this to understand what is going on.  Bella, House and Cuddy are back…and it's Christmas time.  What happens when Bella goes snooping where she shouldn't?
1. The Christmas File

**Merry Christmas everyone…I'm back! This story follows Traveling Light, so those of you who haven't read that story will want to read it first, otherwise you won't understand a lot of this one. Also, I'm about to spoil what happens at the end of that story, so turn back now and go read Traveling Light! You have been warned.**

**To those who have read Traveling Light (thank you for doing so, I love you), this story is not a sequel, per se. I planned on writing the wedding and I promise it's on its way…sometime. This story fits between Traveling Light and the upcoming wedding. I hadn't planned on writing this, because I've been really busy lately and haven't had time write anything at all, which is why the wedding hasn't been posted. But I promised Temo I'd give her a one-shot for Christmas. That's why this story exists. You can thank Temo for this…I'm fairly positive she accepts cash. ;-) While I was writing though, I decided to make it into a two-shot. I hope no one has a problem with that. Hehe. I'll have the next chapter posted Thursday night…Friday at the latest. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this, as always it was fun to write!**

**Summary: Bella, House and Cuddy are back…and it's Christmas time. What happens when Bella goes snooping where she shouldn't? **

**The** **Christmas File**

**Friday, December 18, 2009**

Christmas. It was one of Bella's favorite holidays; tied with Halloween and Thangsgiving, of course. She loved the feeling this time of year evoked in most people. It was a joyous time. Or, it was supposed to be. She could remember how she used to feel before her life was turned upside down by the death of her parents and later by the death of her brother, Mattie. Even when she and Mattie lived on the streets, they had celebrated the holiday. It wasn't what it used to be, of course, but it was something. Bella used to love Christmas back before everything happened because of all the traditions her family used to have. Her Mom was a teacher and she would spend hours baking for her students and Bella always loved helping her make all of the delicious treats she would later gift them with at their Christmas party before the holiday break.

She also loved watching her Dad and Mattie put up all of the lights and decorations on the house, making their home look festive and warm. But her favorite was probably when they would all go out as a family and find the perfect tree to later decorate. Those years were some of the most memorable of her life and she will always cherish them.

Now, her life was different. _She_ was different. After the trauma of the past few years, she once again had a family to celebrate her favorite holiday with, and she couldn't be happier about it. It wasn't like it used to be with her old family. Her new Mom and Dad didn't do things like she was used to doing. They didn't have traditions. Her Mom lived alone for a long time, so she didn't really do much for the holidays except visit her family when she could, but usually she worked too much. Her Dad never liked the holidays because he grew up with a horrible father. So he didn't do tradition either. It was possible, though, that their traditions, were to have no traditions.

But now that they have Bella and are a family, they're slowly making their way. Bella wasn't sad to find out that they didn't celebrate the holidays like she used to because she didn't feel like it should be a certain way. If they did everything her old family used to do it might take away from the specialness of her memories. Plus she wasn't the same person she used to be, her life had changed in a drastic way and therefore, she changed. Bella wouldn't mind having new traditions, whatever they may be. It was up to them to make them.

She was sort of in uncharted territory; and she was fine with that.

There was exactly a week before Christmas. The weather in Princeton had been freezing and there were several inches of snow on the ground; the perfect amount to build a snowman or have an epic snowball fight. But none of that sounded fun right now because she was freezing and all she wanted to do was get warm. She was dressed in her school uniform, with a heavy coat, scarf, gloves and boots; but her extremities still felt like they were about to fall off. Currently, she and her Dad were walking side by side into the hospital lobby; it was just after 1:00 pm. Bella had her backpack around her shoulders and she held a small, potted poinsettia in her hands. Today was the last day of school before the holiday break and she had won the plant as a prize for her perfect attendance during the semester.

As they reached the clinic doors, her Dad nodded his head in the direction of the clinic, indicating for her to enter without him.

"Tell your mother she owes me for interrupting my super important job of saving lives to walk out in that blizzard and pick you up from school." He snarked as his lip twitched into a tiny smile.

"Sure thing, Papa Bear." She replied smartly, turning to make her way into the clinic, but stopped as she noticed his face.

Dad narrowed his eyes at her 'endearment'. "Don't call me that. I have a reputation, you know."

"I didn't say you were a nice bear. You're a bad ass grizzly with giant claws." She answered, shrugging her shoulders innocently.

"Don't patronize me." He shot back, holding his hand out to her, palm up as if he were waiting for something from her.

"What?" She asked, confused about what he wanted.

"I believe you owe me a dollar." He answered with a smirk on his face.

"What! What for?"

"Did you or did you not just say, bad ass? That's a swear word…one dollar, please. Cough it up." He told her, gesturing for her to hand it over.

Bella narrowed her eyes as his smile grew wider the longer she stared at him. Knowing she had no choice, she gave up. "Ugh! That's so not fair!" She told him, balancing the plant in her left arm as she reached into her pocket with her right hand and pulled her last dollar out, slapping it in his hand.

"Maybe next time you'll watch your potty mouth. And I suggest you don't swear before your next allowance because I don't except IOU's." He snarked and pocketed the cash, walking away from her.

Bella huffed and watched him walk away for a moment before she turned toward the clinic once more and opened the door. As she walked through, she saw her Mom standing at the main desk with her back turned to her, reading a file. A mischievous glint appeared in Bella's eyes and her lip curved into a smile before she quietly set her plant down in one of the chairs in the waiting area and slipped her backpack from her shoulders. She quietly slipped her coat, gloves and scarf off and glanced at her mom once more to make sure she was still preoccupied. Taking a quiet step forward, she tiptoed her way up behind Mom with her hands raised, ready to pounce, but when she was about to strike…

"Don't even think about it." She heard Mom say dryly.

Bella's mouth dropped open in shock and disappointment that she was cheated out of scaring the bejezus out of her mother. Her shoulders deflated and she dropped her hands, straightening her spine.

"Mooom, how did you know I was here?" She whined.

Mom turned around with her eyebrows raised, a sparkle of amusement in her eyes. "I know everything that goes on in my hospital." She replied.

Bella rolled her eyes and sighed as she stepped forward and brought her arms around Mom's waist in a hug. She felt Mom's arms surround her shoulders as she placed a kiss in her hair.

"How was your last day?"

"Good." Bella responded, stepping back. "I won a plant." She added.

Mom furrowed her brows. "Plant?"

"Mhmm. I got perfect attendance so far this year and got a plant out of it." She clarified in monotone. "What kid wants a plant? I think my teacher was just trying to get rid of it so it wouldn't die during Christmas break." Bella shrugged.

Mom pressed her lips together to stop the smile that wanted to escape. "I'm sure that's not true."

"Oh please, Mom. Don't you think she could've given me something a little more kid appropriate, like a box of candy canes or homemade cookies?"

"Yeah, like you need either of those things." Mom replied with an eye roll.

"And I need a plant?" She retorted, raising her eyebrows.

"Just be grateful it wasn't something worse, like fruitcake." Mom told her. "Now go get your prize plant and take it into my office before a clinic patient decides they want it for themselves."

"Pfft. Let 'em have it." Bella answered dismissively as she walked away, doing as her mother told her.

Inside her Mom's office, Bella tossed her bag and the rest of her stuff on the couch and made her way to the desk, moving a few things aside to make room for the plant, arranging it appropriately. She walked around the desk to inspect her work and gave a satisfied nod before sitting down in her Mom's chair. Bella turned her attention away from the plant and focused on the laptop in front of her. She knew Mom would be out of her office for a few minutes as she saw some patients in the clinic, so she decided to play a few games on the computer; puzzle games were her favorite. Mom had given her permission a while back to play them when she was out of the office as long as Bella didn't mess with anything on the computer pertaining to the hospital. Anyway, she was just going to kill some time before Mom left early from work to take her Christmas shopping for Dad.

As Bella moved the mouse to open the game, she spotted a folder on the desktop that simply read: _Christmas_. Furrowing her brow, Bella wondered what was in the file; it didn't look like it had anything to do with hospital business. She pondered the idea of opening it and how much trouble she would get in if she did. This was her Mom's private file, she could get in some deep trouble for snooping; and if Santa Clause existed, she would definitely be on the naughty list. The mouse hovered over the icon to open the word puzzles, but Bella's eyes were trained on the Christmas file. As she stared at the file she bit down on her bottom lip, deciding if she should open it or not. _She shouldn't…it's none of her business…it's Mom's file_, she thought. But if her mom didn't want her snooping in it, she would've hidden the file, right? Mom knew Bella would be on the computer today, so the file must not be such a big secret. An icon with a filename _Christmas_ was too tempting for a child to ignore. _But she still shouldn't look, should she?_ _It would be wrong_, she thought. Bella slowly lifted her eyes and peeked around the laptop, making sure that no one was going to suddenly burst through the door; especially her Mom. Seeing that the coast was clear, she focused back on the file. Bella slowly moved the mouse to the file icon and let it hover there, still unable to decide if she wanted to do this or not.

"Don't do it, Bella." She told herself in a whisper. "It's none of your business."

But curiosity was killing her. What if it was a list of the presents that she was getting on Christmas morning? That thought nearly had her clicking on the file since she had spent some time snooping around her house trying to find her gifts and had been bugging her parents about what they had gotten her. But just as her finger lightly pressed the button on the mouse, she suddenly stopped. What if she didn't want to know what presents she was getting Christmas morning? Maybe she wanted to be surprised. In her old life, she and Mattie used to look for the Christmas presents their parents had hidden in the house. It was a tradition she and Mattie had and something they never told their parents about. They were never successful, though. In hindsight, they probably knew what was going on.

Bella moved the cursor off the file and back to her games. But then she hesitated once more; leaving the games unopened, still undecided.

If Bella opened the file and found a list of her presents, she would be disappointed on Christmas morning. This was her first Christmas with her new family…she didn't want to ruin it. That thought rolled around in her mind for a few more seconds. Bella took another peek around the laptop, to the door; still no one coming. Curiosity kept nipping at the back of her mind. What could it be? If she didn't look, she'd be wondering until Christmas and that was too long for her mind to be wondering something like that. She _had_ to look, disappointment be damned…right? Bella moved the mouse back and forth between the icons; games or file, games or file.

Making her decision, Bella moved the cursor and clicked.

**[H] [H] [H] [H]**

**6:30 PM**

Cuddy and Bella were seated at the dinner table, just finishing up their meal. House had gotten a call saying his team needed him right away so he had left a few minutes ago, grumbling about his team's incompetence. She watched as Bella absently placed a piece of chicken in her mouth, chewing it slowly. Cuddy noticed her eyes were on her plate, and she seemed to be very deep in thought. She furrowed her brow, wondering what she could be thinking about so hard.

"What's with the gloomy face?" Cuddy finally asked her.

Bella looked up, plastering an obviously fake smile on her face. "What gloomy face?"

Cuddy's eyes narrowed suspiciously, knowing she was hiding something. "What have you done?" She asked, knowing her daughter very well and the type of trouble she could get into.

Bella's smile fell, frowning at Cuddy. "Nothing."

"You must be slipping, I remember not long ago when you used to be able to con me."

"I still can. Believe me, if I was conning you, you'd never know." She replied with an innocent smile. "Remember when you and Dad got engaged? You didn't know then."

"How could I forget? Now what's going on?"

"Nothing." Bella insisted.

Cuddy bobbed her head in acknowledgement, obviously not believing her. "Ok. But you look distracted. Are sure everything's ok?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" Bella shrugged. "It's almost Christmas, I'm totally psyched."

Cuddy smiled, nodding her head. "I've seen you totally psyched, and it didn't look anything like that." She replied, pointing her finger at Bella and the way her shoulders were slightly droopy with a tinge of gloominess in her eyes.

"Nothing's wrong." Bella assured her.

Another nod from Cuddy appeared to have offered Bella some relief that she had believed her because Bella lowered her head and continued with her dinner. They ate in silence for several more minutes while Bella not so discretely shifted her eyes up to Cuddy a few times before she put her fork down on her plate and spoke.

"Mommy, I'm full, can I go to my room now?" She mumbled.

"You barely ate anything." Cuddy answered with a furrow in her brow. "Please tell me what's bothering you."

Bella shook her head solemnly. "Nothing."

"We don't need to talk about anything?" Cuddy asked, knowing that something _was_ bothering her and she was beginning to suspect what it might be, and Bella's reaction was worrying her.

"No."

Cuddy didn't believe her but she hesitantly nodded in approval. "Ok, go put your plate in the dishwasher please."

Bella nodded, standing from the table and grabbing her plate to take to the kitchen. Cuddy's eyes followed Bella as she made her way to her room a few moments later. She sighed softly, when she heard the bedroom door close. A moment later, Cuddy stood from the table and made her way to the living room where she had deposited her briefcase on the couch. She pulled out her laptop, waking it up and clicking on the file she suspected had been tampered with. When Cuddy opened it, her jaw dropped at what she saw.

**[H] [H] [H] [H]**

**9:21 PM**

House walked through the front door after finally having stabilized his patient when the medication he'd been given caused an allergic reaction. It was pissing him off that he couldn't figure out what was wrong with the guy.

As he made his way into the house and stripped off his coat, he saw the glow and heard the crackle of logs in the fireplace before he spied Cuddy in the living room reading a book, sprawled out on the couch with a blanket over her legs.

"Hey." She greeted him, closing the book with her finger marking the page.

"Hey." He replied, setting is cane against the arm of the couch before picking up her legs, sitting down, and draping them across his lap.

He laid his head against the back of the couch, sighing tiredly.

"How'd it go?"

House shook his head, turning to look at her. "Nothing."

Cuddy nodded in acknowledgement. "You'll figure it out…you always do."

He slowly nodded.

After a moment of silence he furrowed his brow. "Where's the kid?"

"Her room. She's been in there all night."

House narrowed his eyes, wondering why she'd be locked up in her room. "She in trouble or is she brooding for some other reason?"

Cuddy's lip twitched in amusement. "You were right," was all she said.

After a moment of confusion, House quickly lifted his head from the couch as a smile appeared on his face. "She looked?"

Cuddy nodded.

"She told you?"

Shaking her head, she explained how she knew Bella had found and looked in the file on her computer. "I noticed that the last time the file was opened had today's date and the time she accessed it. I was in the clinic and she was in my office."

House's face split into a proud smile. "A chip off the old block." He told her. "Except if it were me snooping, you'd never know it. Rookie mistake on her part."

"She's nine, House. Don't start training her for espionage just yet." Cuddy replied, rolling her eyes. "And don't you think this is kind of cruel? She looked _really_ upset at dinner. This is her first Christmas with us, I don't want to traumatize her, she's had enough of that in her life."

"Oh, please. She won't be traumatized. And she's not supposed be happy about what she saw, that's the point." He replied with an eye roll. "She'll be relieved that she didn't get all those shitty presents on that list and then she'll be impressed that her old man pulled one over on her."

"I don't know why I agreed to this…this is mean, even for you. And you're dragging me into it." Cuddy said, shaking her head at him.

"Uh, I think this is exactly the type of shenanigans I would get up to… so I don't know why you're so surprised. And besides, how many times have you caught her looking for her Christmas presents around the house? This'll teach her to go snooping around."

"You're so mean." Cuddy told him, shaking her head as she looked at him with a bit of amusement.

"Whatever, you agreed to it…it's just as much your fault if she gets pissed at us."

"House, you know our daughter…she'll get pissed and then she'll retaliate."

House leaned into Cuddy's personal space. "Bring. It. On." He told her challengingly.

**[H] [H] [H] [H]**

**9:45 PM**

Bella sighed as she lay on her bed reading her book. She was currently reading the second book in the Spiderwick Chronicles but she was unable to concentrate on what she was reading. She kept thinking about that file she saw on Mom's computer. It turned out to be what she had suspected, but when she saw the list, she was filled with disappointment, not happiness. Was that really what she was getting for Christmas? That list wasn't at all what she wanted. She knew she shouldn't be picky and that Christmas wasn't about getting presents, but this was her first real Christmas since her life went to hell three years ago. She wanted this Christmas with her knew family to be perfect.

Bella set her book down on her chest, shifting her eyes up to the ceiling. Splat was curled into a black furry ball next to her on the bed, purring away like he was the happiest cat in the world. How could he be happy right now? _She_ wasn't happy…couldn't he sense that and be upset along with her?

She released another sigh…maybe she was being selfish. She should be happy about whatever her parents want to give her; after all, she had learned to live with nothing for a long time. She didn't really need gifts. But it was Christmas, it was supposed to be special and what was on that list, made it seem like her parents didn't know her at all. She would never ask for any of that stuff. They knew she didn't play with dolls, especially Barbies. _Gross_. What was she, five years old? She huffed aloud in the stillness of her bedroom.

Bella set her book on the nightstand, sighing once more. Maybe she should just confess that she had peeked at the list and tell them, delicately, that she didn't like what was on the list. No, she didn't want to get in trouble this close to Christmas. It seemed she'd just have to put on a happy smile when she opened her presents on Christmas morning.

_Ugh, this sucked,_ Bella thought with frustration, sitting up in bed and swinging her legs over the side. She stood and began pacing her room. She had to come up with something to do before her Christmas was ruined. What bugged her most was that none of those presents were what she would choose, her parents knew her better than that. They knew she liked art and music and books. She even liked clothes and certain toys. She needed to clue them in; tell them exactly what she wanted, that way she wouldn't have to be disappointed Christmas morning.

Bella stopped pacing and faced Splat, still on the bed watching her with his big green eyes.

"That's what I'll do, Splat. I'll make my own list and tell them what I want." She told him with a smile.

Splat continued to stare at her before releasing a yawn and licking his paws.

"I can see you're so interested." She mumbled, rolling her eyes. A sudden thought popped into her head. Her smile fell. "What if they already bought my presents?" She said aloud, talking to herself, since Splat didn't appear to care. Crap, she was screwed.

"But I don't want that stuff." She whined softly.

Bella sat down on the edge of the bed; her shoulders slumped as she thought about her predicament. It all seemed so wrong. They know her better than this, she insisted again; they know she would never, ever play with those toys. Her parents would be wasting money; didn't they know that? Bella kept going over and over in her mind if there was any time she ever spent with them that she had mentioned wanting any of those toys. _It's like they were playing a joke on her or something._ She thought, a small laugh escaping her lips as she rolled her eyes, the thought seeming ridiculous.

But suddenly, Bella gasped loudly and straightened her spine, realizing what was going on.

"They're trying to screw with me." She spoke, turning around to address Splat, who now had one of his hind legs up in the air as he happily cleaned his black fur.

Bella stood up, ignoring Splat and his bath time as she came to the realization that her parents were trying to con her. "Who do they think they are, trying to mess with me?" She asked the empty room with a mix of outrage and amusement. This stunt had her Dad written all over it. This is exactly something he would do. But the file was on Mom's computer so she must be in on it too…unless Dad planted it there without her knowledge. Bella shook her head; doubtful, she'd notice something like that. But this was definitely all Dad's idea and he somehow talked Mom into okaying it.

Bella suddenly frowned, why would they be trying to trick her like this, though? Were they trying to throw her off the trail of some present they had gotten her so she wouldn't guess what it was? She sighed; she _had_ been doing a lot of snooping lately, she admitted to herself. "They're trying to teach me a lesson." She whispered, her lip curving into a small smile. She wasn't upset; she actually thought it was pretty clever. But they must know that she would figure it out eventually. The idea that had been bugging her reentered her mind; her parents knew her pretty well, and they knew she would hate every one of those presents. That's why they had chosen them. They knew she would be disappointed to get dolls and games she would never play and books that she would never read. Bella couldn't believe she hadn't figured it out sooner.

Bella shook her head at her idiocy. Why hadn't she thought of it before? It was so obvious.

"So they want to trick me, huh?" She asked the still empty bedroom. Bella smiled.

"Game on, Daddy-o." She said with a sparkle in her eye.

**[H] [H] [H] [H]**

**8:45 AM – Saturday – The Next Day **

Bella was seated at the kitchen table with a bowl of cereal in front of her thinking about how she was going to get her parents back. She took a bite and discretely watched her Mom butter a slice of toast as she stood at the counter. Dad had gone in early to see to his patient but it didn't matter, she could start her payback without his presence. She would deal with him later. Mostly, she just needed to get Mom's read on all of this before moving too deep into payback mode. With a twinkle in her eye she turned to her mother.

"Mommy." She began.

"Mm."

"When is Daddy getting back?"

"I don't know, baby, he could be awhile. Why?" She asked, turning her attention to Bella.

"Just wondering."

"Did you need him for something?"

Bella shrugged her shoulders and resumed her breakfast. She could feel Mom's eyes on her so she looked up, giving her a tight-lipped smile.

"You seem to be feeling better today."

"Yep. I slept really good, I think I was just tired." Bella explained. "Plus, Christmas is just around the corner. I can't wait, it's gonna be perfect." She told her mom.

Mom gave her a tight smile; the kind she gives when she's hiding something. "I'm glad you're feeling better. So, what do you want to do today?" Mom asked, quickly changing the subject.

"I don't know, play in the snow? Do you think I could go play with Simon and Maya at the park?

"Why don't you invite Simon and Maya here instead? You guys can play outside for awhile and then come in for some hot chocolate and marshmallows, how does that sound?"

Bella nodded in agreement, a smile splitting her face. "Ok."

After a moment of silence, while Mom sat down at the table with her breakfast, Bella decided to just jump in with her plan.

"Mom, did you ever make a Christmas list when you were a little girl?"

Mom looked up briefly with surprise on her face, spitting some of her orange juice out of her mouth as she took a sip.

Bella barely held in her laughter at mom's reaction, but she managed, watching Mom carefully and waiting for her answer.

When she didn't answer right away, too busy blotting the table with a napkin where she'd spit out her drink, Bella asked again.

"So did you?"

"Make a Christmas list?"

Bella nodded.

"Sure, I did."

"Did you always get what you asked for?"

Mom furrowed her brow. "I-I don't remember, baby, I haven't thought about that in a long time."

"Well, did you used to believe in Santa? Because I don't believe in Santa Clause, I know you and Dad are really Santa so I was just thinking that maybe I should make a list of stuff I want for Christmas. Would that be ok?"

"Sure…of course, honey. We want to get you what you like."

"Yeah, I knew you would. I mean, at first I thought I didn't need to make a list because you and Dad know me pretty good…"

"Pretty well." Mom corrected.

"Yeah, you know me pretty well and I thought, since you do, I don't need to tell you. But then, I thought it would be fun to think of stuff I want to get and you Dad can choose what you want to give me so I'll be surprised." She said in a rush of words.

"Sounds like you have it all worked out."

"Yeah, I guess." Bella replied, pleased so far with the conversation. "So does that sound ok with you, Mom?"

"Of course." She answered rather dryly, a tight-lipped smile on her face. "This is our first Christmas as a family, it should be perfect."

Bella nodded in agreement, her lips curving into a smile. "Yeah."

Silence once again took over the room, except for the clatter of Bella's spoon against her bowl as she ate. She wasn't expecting the next words out of her mother's mouth, though.

"So I take it you didn't like what you saw?" She asked with a smirk on her face.

Bella furrowed her brow. "What do you mean?"

Her smiled grew wider. "You know what I mean."

They stared each other down for a moment.

Bella shook her head…this wasn't part of the plan.

"Ok…I'll indulge your ignorance for a moment." Mom replied. "Funny thing happened yesterday when I was in the clinic." She began.

"What?" Bella knew where this was going but she wasn't about to confess to what she'd done.

"My computer was tampered with…or rather, one of the files on my computer was tampered with." She explained.

"Really?"

"Mmhm. You wouldn't know anything about that would you?"

Bella stared, not willing to answer that question.

"I know you looked in the file, Bella. And by the questions you were just asking me, I assume you figured out that it was planted there by your father and I?"

Bella released the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "You two were trying to screw with me…and figured it out!" She stated, her lip curving into a proud smile.

Mom smiled as well.

Bella huffed. "But how did you know I looked?"

"That's my little secret."

"Mooom, tell me." She whined.

"Mm-mm." She answered, shaking her head.

"Did you tell Dad I looked?"

"Of course I did."

Bella furrowed her brow. "Am I in trouble? Because I don't think I should be in trouble…you wanted me to look." She pointed out.

"No, you're not in trouble. You're right; you were supposed to look. Dad wanted to mess with you because you kept snooping around the house for your presents. He thought if you saw what you were supposedly getting, you wouldn't care anymore."

"So I'm not getting any of that stuff, right? Because that list was terrible, Mom."

Mom laughed as she shook her head. "No, that was a fake list."

Bella sighed with relief. Even though she knew it, she was glad to hear confirmation that the list was fake. "Thank God!"

"Well, now you know. So stop snooping or your Dad will come up with something worse. He might actually decide to give you that list of presents."

Bella scrunched her face in disgust at the thought before a mischievous smile made it's way onto her face. "Does Dad know that I know?"

"No."

Her smile grew.

Mom's eyes narrowed. "Bella…what are you planning?" She asked cautiously.

"Well, I have to get payback." Bella reasoned.

Mom rolled here eyes upward. "Dear God, how did I end up with two of them? Why couldn't I end up with a sweet, innocent little girl?"

Bella giggled. "Don't worry, Mommy." She replied innocently.

"Yeah…right."

"I'll make it bloodless, Mom, I promise."

Mom dropped her head in her hand, shaking her head in resignation. "God help me." She mumbled under her breath.

**A/N: Thanks for reading! I'll have the next chapter up tomorrow.**


	2. Payback And Christmas Traditions

**Yay, you guys _are_ still out there! Thank you so much for reading and reviewing and for all of the story/author alerts and favorites. You guys are amazing. I'm sorry it took so long between stories; I hope it won't be that long until I post the wedding. I'm going to continue working on it, I promise! I'm happy you all enjoyed the first chapter and I hope you enjoy the conclusion. Until next time!**

**Payback And Christmas Traditions**

**Tuesday – December 22 – 4 Days Later**

"Daddy?"

House heard Bella call as he looked up from the JAMA magazine he was reading. He was in the living room sitting on the couch; his glasses perched on his nose.

"Are you too busy?"

House put the magazine down, shaking his head. "Never. C'mere." I told her.

Bella made her way over, sitting next to him on the couch.

'What's up, buttercup?" He asked, playfully.

"Nothing. I just missed you, that's all."

"You missed me?" He asked, a little surprised by her answer.

"You've been working a lot, so I missed you."

"Well, your mother is quite the slave driver, you should probably blame her." House replied, his lip curling into a half smile.

"I already did." She joked.

"That's my girl." He answered, bringing his arm around Bella's shoulders and squeezing her into him.

She giggled softly, laying her head down on his bicep. House looked down at her, seeing sadness in her eyes. She had been moping around the house ever since she'd looked at the file that contained his fake gift list. Every time he saw her, she had a frown on her face but it wasn't worrying to him because he knew she would find this whole thing funny on Christmas morning when she opened her gifts and it wasn't what she had seen on the list.

"It's almost Christmas, you know? You're supposed to be full of joy and cheer." He snarked. "So what's with the pouty face?" He asked, keeping up the guise of ignorance.

Bella shrugged, lowering her head as she stared at her hands; twisting her fingers, nervously. After a moment, she looked up at him. "Daddy, if I tell you something, will you promise not tell Mom?"

"Depends on what it is. Did you kill someone?" He joked.

Bella rolled her eyes. "I'm serious, Daddy. Promise not to tell her." She pouted.

House looked at her closely, seeing that she wasn't joking around. She was really upset; near tears even. "What is it?"

Bella took in a deep breath as if she were preparing herself. "The other day…I was on Mom's computer at the hospital while I was waiting for her to be finished in the clinic and I was going to play my puzzle games, you know? The one's Mom got me? And there was this other file on there and…" She stopped.

"You looked?" He finished for her, knowing exactly where this was going. He would've smiled with pride at his little prank, but she looked really upset right now. Now he was getting worried.

Bella nodded in answer to his question before shifting her eyes back to her hands in her lap. "Yeah." She whispered.

House was surprised by how truly devastated she seemed to be about this; and it was his fault. This whole prank had been his idea but he never thought she'd get this upset over it. He thought she'd be impressed and find it funny…but she wasn't laughing. Shit. He'd upset his kid on her first real Christmas with her new family; _their_ first Christmas as a family. And now that he thought about it, it was the first Christmas where he was actually looking forward to celebrating. In the past he never cared about the holiday, it was just another day in his miserable life. But now that he had a family it was different.

"I know." He swallowed. "I know about the file."

Bella looked up with tears in her eyes. "It was my Christmas list and I looked at it and now I won't be surprised and I didn't like any of those presents." She confessed in a rush, tears streaming down her face and a small sob escaping her lips.

"Hey, it's…" He tried, hoping to comfort her but not knowing how. He had to tell her the truth. He truly never thought she'd get this upset. "It's ok."

"No, it's not. I ruined it; I looked at all my presents and I thought I'd be happy and excited but I'm not; not at all, because I didn't like 'em, Daddy. I'm supposed to be thankful for what you and Mom give me but I….I'm-" She cried, more tears soaking her cheeks but clearly unable to form anymore words because of how upset she was.

House was near panic; he had no idea what to do. Where the hell was Cuddy when he needed her? She was in on this too, damn it! As Bella continued to cry, he gathered her in his arms, trying to do what he could to comfort her while he thought of the words to say to tell her it was all just a stupid joke.

"Hey…come on now. It's gonna be ok, kid." He tried again, the proper words not coming to him. He was completely thrown by this.

Bella shook her head as she rested it against his shoulder. "No it's not. I ruined Christmas, it was supposed be perfect. And you and Mom aren't getting me what I wanted." She sobbed.

House's breathing sped up, his heart pounding in overtime. He looked around the living room and into the hall, hoping Cuddy would appear to help with this situation.

"Cuddy!" He shouted.

Where the hell was she? He had to fix this, but how? Telling Bella the truth would piss her off. On the other hand he knew how to deal with a pissed off Bella, he didn't know how to deal with a sobbing Bella. That was Cuddy's territory.

"Cuddy, get the hell in here!" He shouted in a panicked voice. Where was she? Did she suddenly become deaf? Couldn't she hear what was going on in here? He had to fix this now!

"Listen, kid, you didn't ruin anything…I did. It was just a stupid joke." He told her, hoping to stop the crying. "You hear me?" He said gently. This wasn't working, why was she still crying? "Peanut, it's a fake list. We put it there for you to find, it was just a prank. You're not getting any of that shit for Christmas." He promised.

She continued to sob as if she hadn't heard a word he'd said, but after a minute her sobs began to sound more like laughter. Her shoulders were still shaking but when he looked down at her face she was laughing. Bella looked up at him, her laughter becoming stronger and stronger and he became more confused by the second.

"Wha…why are you laughing now?" He asked, his eyes wide with confusion.

Bella began to laugh harder at his confusion, wiping at her tear stained face. House narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously for a full minute before he finally understood.

"You're screwing with me!" He exclaimed.

Bella scrambled off his lap, as she laughed more. "You screwed with me first, Daddy. I got you."

House stared in disbelief at her, his jaw dropping as he shook his head. "I thought you were really upset, but you…"

"I got you!" She exclaimed proudly, still laughing.

A slow smile began to spread across House's face as he realized she had conned the hell out of him just now. He should've been upset, but he wasn't, he was proud. House thought he had been pulling one over on Bella, but she turned around and did the same to him. What's not to be proud of in this? He _loved_ this kid!

"You knew about the prank?" He asked Bella.

She nodded proudly. "I figured it out. I knew you would never get me that stuff."

Suddenly, House saw movement at the living room entryway and saw Cuddy as she came into the room, a broad smile on her face and her eye brows raised at him, telling with silently that she had told him this would happen. He stood up, surprised again that she was in on it with Bella.

"You knew about this?" He asked, receiving a nod in confirmation. "You traitor!" House accused, his smile widening.

"I told you she'd retaliate, House. You should've known she'd figure it out." Cuddy told him.

House shook his head. "We gotta get this kid into acting school." He replied.

Bella smiled up at him proudly.

House shook his head once more, still stunned by how completely she had fooled him. "You got me, kid."

Bella giggled, no doubt happy about her accomplishment. "You should've seen your face, Dad."

'Yeah, you think it's funny now, just wait till I get you back for this."

"Oh no! No more, you two. This ends here…no more pranks, no more conning. Understood?" Cuddy cut in, glaring pointedly at him and Bella. "Let's just have a nice first Christmas together from now on."

Bella looked over at House questioningly. House narrowed his eyes at her, gauging her reaction. After a moment they both answered:

"Fine." They agreed.

"Thank you." Cuddy replied, satisfied that they were going to do as she instructed. "Bella, sweetie, you have about an hour before bedtime so choose your time wisely, because we have to be up early in the morning to pick up Grandma from the airport."

"Ok. Can I watch a movie?"

"Only if you want to watch half of one."

"I want to watch _Elf_, I've already seen it so know how it ends."

"Fine." Mom agreed.

"I want you and Dad to watch with me."

House nodded at Cuddy when she looked to him questioningly. Bella put in the DVD before crawling onto his lap to watch the movie. Cuddy settled against his left side, cuddling into his embrace. While they watched Buddy the Elf trying unsuccessfully to make toys in Santa's workshop, House thought about his kid. He still couldn't believe she'd played him like that. She was good. He should keep that performance in mind next time he needed her to help him keep his team in line. House shifted his eyes to Bella as she was completely engaged in the movie. He allowed his lip to curl into a smile…he had the best kid in the world.

**[H] [H] [H] [H]**

**Friday – Christmas Day**

Bella slowly opened her eyes. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and looked at the clock on the nightstand. It was just after 7 AM and she quickly remembered what day it was. A smile made its way onto her face and she shot up, throwing the covers off and scampering out of bed. There was a slight chill in the house, even though the heating unit was on, so Bella grabbed her fuzzy socks off the floor and put them on. No matter how hard she tried, she could never sleep with socks on her feet, even in the winter; they were too constricting and gave her feet claustrophobia.

Once that was done, she slid out of her room as she tried to run to her parent's bedroom, slipping and sliding all the way down the hall. Dad was going to hate it that she was waking him up at this early hour, but she didn't care, it was freakin' Christmas day!

Bella slowly turned the doorknob to the bedroom door. She could hear her Dad snoring softly. She smiled; he was going to be pissed. Serves him right for what he'd done to her. Mom said no more pranks but she just couldn't resist. Bella slowly opened the door, walking through on her tiptoes. When she reached the end of the bed and watched both her parents sleeping for a moment, she smiled a cunning little smile and took in a deep breath right before she yelled…

**Merry Christmas! **

…at the top of her lungs.

Both her parents startled awake, their bodies nearly leaving the mattress. At the sight, Bella couldn't hold back her laughter. Mom sat up, her hand over her heart as she tried to control her breathing. Dad was glaring at her, his body still prone but his head lifted from the pillow. She continued to laugh, the look on their faces priceless. She wished she'd had a camera. Maybe she'll get one in a few minutes when she opens her presents.

"Bella." Mom breathed out as she finally regained the ability to speak. "What the hell?"

Bella laughed even harder, knowing her mother never said stuff like that to her.

"You're dead meat, peanut." Her Dad added, laying his head down once again on his pillow.

"You can't kill me today, it's Christmas." Bella replied with a giggle, after she was finally able to catch her breath from laughing so hard.

She moved forward and hopped onto the bed, scrambling in between her parents.

"So can you get up, so we go open presents now?" Bella pleaded.

Mom let a chuckle slip past her lips before she drew her daughter into a hug. "Merry Christmas, baby girl. Yes, go get your Grandma and Oma up and we'll open presents."

Bella's smile widened with excitement, briefly returning Mom's hug before she climbed off the bed and made her way around toward the door.

"Bella." Mom called after her before she exited the room.

Bella turned around, waiting to hear what her Mom had to say. "_Do not_…wake your grandmothers up like you did us." Mom told her pointedly.

With a giggle, Bella nodded. "I won't, Mom. Wouldn't want them to have a heart attack and die." She replied.

"Yeah but it's ok if we do?" Dad snarked.

One more giggle and a shake of her head and Bella ran out of the room.

About 15 minutes later, everyone except her Dad was seated in the living room, ready to commence the unwrapping. The tree was lit, there was a fire in the fireplace and they had Christmas music playing softly in the background. Bella was nearly jumping out of skin with excitement. She was trying to hold it in but she couldn't stop from squirming as she sat next to the tree with all the presents in front of her. There were so many.

"Daddy, hurry up!" She called to him with impatience.

"I'm coming!" He yelled from the kitchen.

"Bella, calm down a minute, baby. He'll be here in a second." Mom told her gently as she sat next to Bella, leaning her back against the stuffed chair next to the tree.

Bella sighed and tried to wait patiently. "What's he doing?" She asked with irritation after only a minute had passed.

Grandma and Oma were seated on the couch, each with a cup of coffee in their hands as they tried to hold back their laughter.

"Just a minute, he's coming." Mom assured her.

A moment later, Bella could hear him coming through the dining room, headed toward them. As he walked into the living room, Bella could see why he was late. He walked in with a video camera pointed at them. Bella smiled and waved at the camera.

"Ok, I'm here, go crazy, kid."

"Oh, Greg, put that thing away." Oma told him, waving her hand at him dismissively.

"Sorry, Mom, gotta make memories for the kid." He told her with a wink at Bella.

Bella giggled softly, knowing that Oma didn't like having her picture taken or being filmed on camera. Dad told her a long time ago that she just had to get over it because she had a granddaughter now, it came with the territory. She still tried to get out of it when she could though.

"So I can open my presents now?" Bella asked, her attention back on the presents.

Mom stood up, making her way to the tree and kneeling before the presents. She picked one up and handed it to Bella. It was a big box and Bella accepted it with a wide smile, looking up at her Mom for the all clear to start opening.

Mom smiled sweetly at her and nodded. "Go for it, babe. That one's from Oma."

Bella ripped into the package in half a second, the wrapping gone and forgotten. She opened all of her presents in this manner and when she pulled her attention away from her gifts long enough to look up, she noticed how slow the adults were opening their gifts. What fun was that?

After all of her presents were opened, Bella smiled, loving every gift she received. The first present from Oma was a whole outfit; a light pink tank top and sweater set, a jeweled mini denim skirt, a pair of striped pink and black leggings, and a pair of gray faux-suede motorcycle boots. Oma said those were Dad's idea. Dad had rolled his eyes and corrected her, saying he was given a choice between those or a pair of light up boots, and with those two choices there was no contest. Bella giggled her thanks to Oma, giving her a tight hug and a kiss.

Grandma's present was similar. She received some clothes from her as well a $25 gift card to Bella's favorite art supply store in town. Mom and Dad's gifts were a major improvement from the list she'd found in the Christmas file last week.

She got a few books that she had wanted to read for a while, an iPod Nano and iTunes card, a bracelet making kit, a pair of tall purple sparkly boots that she had been bugging her Mom for after she'd seen them in the store window a while back. Dad got her a motorcycle helmet that was just her size so he could start taking her on rides around the block. When Bella opened that gift, Mom had made her promise to be careful and do exactly as her father told her to do when riding. She got a nice leather bound notebook for writing; she had been trying her hand at that after one of her teachers in school told her she was pretty good at it. All in all, she was happy with her presents and could sorta see why her parents had pranked her by making a fake list. If she had found these presents, it wouldn't have been nearly as fun opening them.

Aside from the presents though, she loved that she was able to enjoy Christmas again. Bella moved her gaze from her Grandma to her Oma, noticing how they smiled and exchanged laughter and thank you's as they opened their presents. From them, she shifted her eyes to her parents. She saw Mom place a kiss on Dad's lips as she thanked him for the necklace he had given her. And later she saw Dad's smile as he opened the box that contained his brand new leather jacket from her and Mom. Bella moved onto Mom's lap, her arms embracing Bella as they explained how hard it was to find one he would like.

When they were finished, and every present had been unwrapped, Bella looked around at the state of disaster the living room was in from all of the wrapping paper, ribbons and bows. Oma, Grandma and Mom began cleaning up so the house would be presentable and so they could start getting everything ready for the Christmas dinner party they would be having later in the evening.

Uncle James and Aunt Janine would be there. Bella had decided a couple of months ago that she wanted to call James her uncle because he was like a brother to her dad. Plus he was going to be a dad soon himself, and Bella wanted the baby to be her little cousin; and since Janine was James' girlfriend and the mother of his child and practically family already anyway, she became her honorary Aunt.

Dad's team from the hospital, and Allison and Chase would be coming as well. They had invited Max, but he was staying in New York and spending Christmas with his girlfriend, whom he seemed pretty serious about.

Bella gathered all of her gifts and made her way into her bedroom. She had so much time to kill and so many things to do she didn't know where to start. But that was part of the fun of Christmas; now that all of her presents were opened, it was time to play.

**[H] [H] [H] [H]**

**6:00 PM**

"Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas…" Bella sang softly to the music playing throughout the house. She was wearing her new outfit she had gotten from Oma that morning, but instead of her motorcycle boots, she was wearing the purple ones Mom had given her. She was setting the table for dinner when she heard a knock at the door.

"I'll get it!" Bella announced, making her way to the door as her boots made a similar sound to her Mom's shoes on the hardwood floor. She loved that. The heels were nowhere near as tall, but she still loved it.

As she peeked out the window in the door, she recognized who it was. Smiling, she opened the door.

"Hi, Uncle James and Aunt Janine." She greeted, holding the door open for them to enter.

"Hey, Bella. Merry Christmas." Uncle James replied with a smile and a hug as he and his pregnant girl friend, Janine, stepped through the door. "Nice boots." He complimented.

"Thanks!" She replied happily.

"Hi, Bella." Janine greeted with a hug as well. "Merry Christmas, sweetheart."

"Merry Christmas. How's the baby doing?" Bella asked, gently placing her hand on Janine's pregnant belly. Having done it many times, she knew Aunt Janine didn't mind.

"He's great. He's been kicking a lot today." She answered with a happy smile.

Bella smiled with excitement. "Is he kicking now?" She asked.

"Mm, no. I think he finally went to sleep for a little while, but I'll let you know if he starts up again."

"Ok."

They had been the first guests to arrive but soon after that, Dad's team walked through the door about 2 or 3 minutes apart from each other. Allison and Chase followed them about 5 minutes later. Dinner was served at about 6:30 and everyone was gathered at the dining room table and the extra table that had been set up as well. Bella, Kutner, and Remy were seated at the 'kids table,' as Dad had dubbed it. Kutner told Bella all about his Christmas presents as they ate and she explained the prank that Dad had pulled on her this week and what she had done to get him back.

As she listened and participated in the lively conversations going on around the room, Bella couldn't help but remember the traditions she had been thinking about last week that her family had in her old life; and how in this new life she shared with her family, they didn't have any Christmas traditions. This Christmas together as a family was new to all of them and as she had thought about earlier, they had to make their traditions. So far, she was pleased with the ones they had started.

The pranks and games leading up to Christmas day, spending time with her parents as they decorated the house and tree for the first time, watching Christmas movies on the Eve of Christmas with her grandmothers after they spent the evening baking cookies together, opening one of her presents a few hours before she went to bed last night, kissing and hugging her parents good night as she crawled into bed and had trouble sleeping because of the excitement of Christmas day and what it would bring, waking up in the morning and getting her parents and grandmothers out of bed before they opened presents, spending the day playing with those presents and finally enjoying the rest of the evening with friends. She had gotten her wish; her first Christmas with her new parents had turned out perfectly and she couldn't wait to do it again next year and the year after that and the year after that and forever.

**The End**

**Merry Christmas and many blessings! Thank you all for reading.**


End file.
